Right from the start, Bigger Thomas had been headed for jail. It could have been for assault or petty larceny; by chance, it was for murder and rape. Native Son tells the story of this young black man caught in a downward spiral after he kills a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Richard Wright's novel is just as powerful today as when it was written -- in its reflection of poverty and hopelessness, and what...

Ragni, a single woman who is struggling with her job and her father's Alzheimer's disease, agrees against her will to fix up her great-grandmother's cabin. She's accompanied by her teenage niece, Erika, who has taken to wearing all black and rarely talks to Ragni anymore. Snelling takes this opportunity to weave together Ragni's story with the story of Nilda, her great-grandmother, who traveled out by train in the early 1900s to be a frontier housekeeper....

A car wreck and a suspicious death offer a lead on a hired shooter FBI agent Paul Falcon is tracking. Midwest homicide investigator Ann Silver has his attention when she passes the case to him. Is he prepared for both the case's and her secrets?

Detective Boone Drake has successfully conducted an operation to bring down street gangs and crime bosses. A leak somewhere in the Chicago PD, however, threatens the life of his key witness, and Drake must figure out who the betrayer is before it's too late.

aFor 10 years Arlene has kept her promises, and God has kept His end of the bargain. Until now. When an old schoolmate from Possett turns up at Arlene's door in Chicago asking questions about Jim Beverly, former quarterback and god of Possett High, Arlene's break with her former hometown is forced to an end. At the same time, Burr, her long-time boyfriend, has raised an ultimatum: introduce him to her family or consider him gone. Arlene loves him...

Heidi Wood has always been a charitable woman. Still, her husband and daughter are horrified when Heidi returns home one day with a young woman named Willow and her four-month-old baby in tow. Disheveled and apparently homeless, this girl could be a criminal-or worse. Nevertheless, Heidi invites Willow and the baby to take refuge in their home, despite her family's objections. As clues into Willow's past begin to surface, Heidi is forced to decide...

"Kathryn Davies--an eccentric young woman from a prominent Phoenix family--makes a leap of faith at a Christian music fest, dropping out of med school and moving to inner city Chicago where she yearns to join the SouledOut Community Church, of which reserved Avis Douglass is a founding member." --From Baker & Taylor. Avis Douglass and her husband, Peter, have dreamed of a two-year mission to South Africa. But when the economy crashes, they're suddenly...

Chicago's preeminent wizard, Harry Dresden, is coping with his new roommate--vampire half-brother Thomas, but Harry soon has problems bigger than Thomas' clutter to deal with. Marva, one of Harry's vampire foes, summons him with a threat to his police-lieutenant friend, Karrin Murphy. Marva demands Harry get the "Word of Kemmler" for her, or she'll frame Murphy for murder.

"Clouds are brewing over Cadogan House, and recently turned vampire Merit can't tell if this is the darkness before the dawn or the calm before the storm. With the city in turmoil over paranormals and the state threatening to pass a paranormal registration act, times haven't been this precarious for vampires since they came out of the closet. If only they could lie low for a bit and let the mortals calm down. That's when the waters of Lake Michigan...

As a professional wizard, Harry Dresden knows firsthand that the “everyday” world is actually full of strange and magical things-and most of them don't play well with humans. And those that do enjoy playing with humans far too much. He also knows he's the best at what he does. Technically, he's the only at what he does. But even though Harry is the only game in town, business-to put it mildly, stinks. So when the Chicago P.D. bring him in to...